Pigeon Girl

 

Taking a stroll in the park with the sun high up, people laughing, children shrieking mischievously you might smile. Further along the path though, there is a girl, a small dark haired girl surrounded by pigeons. Although raggedy, dirty, the girl does not beg, in fact she seems rather satisfied and happy. No one knows her name, no one ever bothers to ask, no one knows where she came from or her story. Fortunately if you are curious enough I’ll tell you her story while you stroll through the beautiful mysterious park, with me.

 

Watch your step.

 

It began with a tiny wail, a beaming face, an exhausted but joyous face and a satisfied doctor, like all life begins. The mother gave her baby a tired smile and held her gracefully while the father hovered over them tears in his eyes. The newborn baby girl blindly grabbed the air and let out a cry that sounded like one of a chirping bird. The parents laughed joyously and placing her head tenderly on the baby’s soft one the mother said, “You are Birdy.” The father chuckled but nodded in agreement, “Birdy Ann McKenzie.”

 

At two, Birdy would take a morning stroll with her mother, Mrs. McKenzie. They would go to their favorite place, the park, but more specifically at the spot where the pigeons liked to gather. They would spend hours mother and daughter feeding and petting the willing pigeons. Then they would go home to find Mr. McKenzie waiting for them with an expectant grin on his face.

 

 It was a happy house but oh in such happy homes does tragedy strike most ruthlessly. The tragedy left the five year old Bird as most of her friends had begun calling her despaired and crying. Because you see the parents that she had once possessed had vanished in their burning car. It was her birthday, her fifth.

 

The funeral took place on a day in which the sun refused to shine. A woman came to take her, and although she was only five, she knew that her loving parents and her happy home were gone like ash being swept away by the wind. Her whole sixth, seventh and eighth years wee spend being switched from one foster home to another. It was not because they were cruel foster homes, because the parents in the foster homes always welcomed her with loving and patient arms. It was because she was a strange quiet child that liked to stare out the window; she did not speak except that sometimes unexpectedly she would exclaim, “PIGEON!” For Birdy that was her way of calling out to her home, she was sure that if she went to the park she would find home.

 

At the age of nine, Birdy was independent, she knew how to take care of herself and so that night in her tenth foster home, she broke her piggy bank, wrote a short note and run away. She went looking for her home but all she found was hunger, cold and fear, but like I said she was independent and knew how to take care of herself. She survived those couple of month wandering hungry and afraid.

 

Then after a while, giving up she sat down on the cold cemented floor and closed her eyes ready to let go. Then she heard a chirp and when she opened her eyes and turned around she saw the park.  

 

She went to the park but more specifically the spot where the pigeons gathered. She sat down weeping, but do not worry, they were tears of joy. She was home.

 

The years crawled by and Birdy was seen constantly surrounded by pigeons and walking around, a small girl that didn’t seem to age. The people that saw her didn’t pay any attention to her because you see they thought she was a ghost, so they ignored her fearing that they were haunted or crazy. The children who saw her because they did not carry the burden of adult fear affectionately called her the Pigeon Girl. And so the girl herself hid in her own shadow eventually becoming a ghost.

 

Stop. Look. There she is now with her beloved pigeons.

 

 Let me tell you something I know. If you were to walk closer and gaze deeply at the girl you would see that those pigeons are in fact not all pigeons. I am sure that you would see her, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie petting and feeding the pigeons, which would explain why she is always happy.

 

You are shocked but suddenly sad because now you know something about Birdy, something heartbreaking.

 

Like me now you also know,

 

She is a ghost.

 

 Because you see although Birdy was independent, the months on the streets without proper care made her sick. And although she made it to the park, that night when she wept tears of joys, her pigeons which were her parents smiled at her beckoning her, and she finally closed her eyes and let go whispering, “home.”

She died in that park on that spot where the pigeons gathered. No one claimed her and so like her parents she eventually became dust.

 

So my friend what you see, that girl with pigeons is just a memory, a wish, or if you like a ghost.

 

Its okay don’t be sad, she is home. Come friend, let’s keep walking and if she smiles at you, smile back because she is also an angel and not everyone can see her and her family. Her name is Birdy Ann McKenzie.

 

Interesting story, come friend, come.

 

Watch your step.